BOSTON — When the night ended and the feel-good comeback was complete, the Orlando Magic merrily left the storied court with this startling realization:
They are halfway home to winning an NBA title.

Now the Magic will have to go through LeBron’s house to reach their destination.
Incredibly, given the odds against them, that’s where they find themselves after whipping the defending champion Boston Celtics 101-82 in Game 7 on Sunday night at TD Banknorth Garden.
It’s on to the Eastern Conference finals for the franchise for the first time since 1996.
Standing in the way of making their first NBA Finals appearance since 1995: LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavs, who are unbeaten during the postseason.
The seven-game series begins Wednesday night in Cleveland.
It takes 16 playoff victories to win the title.
The Magic eliminated the Philadelphia 76ers 4-2 in the first round and recorded their eighth victory against the favored Celtics, winning the series 4-3.
“You can have the championship in the back of your mind as a goal, but now we’re trying to get one win against Cleveland,” Coach Stan Van Gundy said. “This is huge for our team and the organization.”
Forward Hedo Turkoglu, who played the go-to role to perfection with 25 points and 12 assists, was asked how far his team can go.
“We want to see, too,” Turkoglu said. “We have a chance. We never lose confidence of what we can do—not myself, not anybody.”
The Magic felt they had lost two opportunities, in Games 4 and 5, to make quicker work of the Celtics. They fell behind 3-2 and were on the brink of elimination but won the last two games, including their first Game 7 victory since 1995.
The most satisfying sign for the visitors was Celtics Coach Doc Rivers—the former Magic coach—taking out his starters with 2:30 remaining, the NBA version of waving white flag.
Everything was against them, especially the Celtics’ playoff experience in Game 7s and their storied history.
But the Magic were afire from the field, hitting the 3-point shot—their seasonlong specialty—and built a 23-point fourth-quarter lead to whip the Celtics.
The Magic shot 51.4 percent and put on an amazing performance from long range, making 13-of-21 3-pointers.
Orlando’s “Big Three”—Turkoglu, Dwight Howard (12 points, 16 rebounds) and Rashard Lewis (19 points) — led the way to Cleveland. Mickael Pietrus (17 points) came up huge from the bench to hand Boston just its fourth loss in 21 all-time Game 7s at home.
The question was whether the Magic would suffer a similar Game 5 meltdown in the final period. They had coughed up a 14-point lead and a 10-point lead with just over five minutes left, which also caused Howard to second-guess Van Gundy.
The Magic led by just five at 66-61 to start the fourth quarter. They pushed the lead to 17 after just three minutes, playing with poise and defense—components missing in Game 5. Celtics shooting guard Ray Allen (23 points), who finally found his jump-shot, drilled a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 12 at 90-78 with just over four minutes to play.
“It looked similar and we learned from it,” Van Gundy said.
The Magic will be portrayed as big underdogs against the Cavs, who will have home-court advantage. They posted the league’s best regular-season record and home-court record, boasted the MVP in James and have swept through two postseason series.
But on closer inspection, the Magic have matched up well with the Cavs. They have won 8 of the last 11 meetings, including an 116-87 romp this year in Orlando.
And now the Magic are halfway home to a championship.